McLaren 650S Spider Drops Its Top At 2014 Geneva Motor Show

As if the launch of the McLaren 650S at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show wasn't enough, the crew from Woking brought along a convertible Spider version. The 650S' P1-inspired styling is made all the more dramatic with a removable roof.

As with the MP4-12C Spider with which it shares a platform, the 650S Spider features a retractable hardtop that effectively makes it a coupe with the roof fitted. The roof takes 17 seconds to raise, a task that can be accomplished at speeds up to 19 mph.

McLaren says the car's carbon fiber MonoCell chassis did not require any additional strengthening, despite the removal of the roof. The weight penalty over the coupe is about 88 pounds. The 650S Spider comes equipped with the coupe's lightweight alloy wheels, Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires, and carbon ceramic brakes.

Also unchanged is the 12C-derived 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V-8, which produces the same 641 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque it does in the 650S hardtop. That allows the 650S Spider to do 0-62 mph in 3.0 seconds, 0-124 mph in 8.6 seconds, and reach a top speed of 204 mph.

That's 0.1 second, 0.2 second, and 3 mph behind the coupe, respectively. It doesn't look like convertible buyers will sacrifice much in the way of performance.